Corner protector



y 1959 A. A. WERNER ET AL 2,885,139

CORNER PROTECTOR 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed Aug. 24, 1955 .JJJ/EJIZUFE ALFRED A. R E MALI/1M 6. SIEFFERT alZZM, 5

y 5, 1959 A. A. WERNER ET AL 2,885,139

CORNER PROTECTOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 24, 1955 4 a /C 6 2 a, m w m/ M 7 4 3 u v. 0 B Z4 0 in M2 a 4 7 Z 71 517201 5 fl/Jmso A. Wanna? Wu. 1. /AM 6. \S/EF'FERT W a, z

United States Patent conmunrnorucroa Alfred A. Werner and William G. Sielfert, Pittsburgh,

Pa.', assignors to Fort Wayne Corrugated Paper Company, Fort Wayne, Ind., a, corporation of Indiana Application August 24, 1955, Serial No. 530,375 7. Claims. (Cl. 229-14) The. present invention relatesv to. an improved corner protector which affords substantial protection to the corriers of sheet-like materials, such'as sheets of glass, while being transported. or stored in single ormultiple sheet units.

Specifically, this invention relates to a corner protector for sheets of gla'ss'orjother brittle materials.

The'corner protector of this invention is preferably formed, from corrugated. paper board and woeden'stnps; andis, 'so constructed as to provide maximum" protection to'corners with'arninimurn amountof material.

"The walls of'the pro,tector are preferably made from a single blank' of material such as corrugated paperboard drjtheflike, folded and cut so that the assembled. protector structure has integral rectangular edge walls dis} posed at right angles to one another. Each edge wall in the assembled corner protector comprises spaced layers or material'and between the spaced layers of each edge wall is inserted a rigidifying strip f material having some degree, of resilience, such as' wood, for primarily protccting the sheets from e'dgewise blows at the corners. A pair of triangular sidewalls, each comprising a plurality of layers of cushioning material, extends between corresponding, side edges, of the edge walls for confining and protecting the. sheets laterally. Furthermore, due tothe cushioning properties. of: the, material from which thecorner protectors are made, the corner protectors are oapable of engaging the sheet material to be protected with aresilient fit that renders the corner protectors sell retaining once they are positioned in place.

l -leretofore, corner protectors constructed from a single blank and having no rigidifying edgewall strips afforded veryllittle resistance to compressive forces resulting from stacking bundles of the sheets flat-wise, one on top of the th AS a r s h r uct be n hi p d r Stored and having. only such prior art protectors, frequently and easily, became damaged and unmerchantable even though reasonable care was exerted by agencies handling the ptqd st A primary object of the present. invention, therefore, is to provide a corner protector having walls composed of a plurality of layers, of cushioning material, with its e g l q i ed with. vrisidifving ea s. a ing s m resilience, thus affording much more effective protection for, the. corners of material to which the protector is ap- Pl es Another object of: the present invention is to provide an improved corner protectorv structure which is particularly designed for the safe storage and transportation of fragile, materials in sheet form, and which is, simple to manufacture and assemble. and which also affords ample protection for corners.

' Another object of the invention is to provide an improved corner protector structure which is substantially more durable and rigid than corner protectors heretofore used, and which has greater flexibility and cushioning pi'opertics. l

Another object of the invention is to provide a corner protector which 'is self-retaining and which will also aid in holding packed sheets of frangible material together: against damage 'during storage and transportation. Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying sheetsof drawings, which, byway of a preferred example only, illustrate one embodiment of the invention.

On the drawings: i

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the assembled corner protector showing by way of illustration the manner in which the protector is used on a pack of sheets, such as glass;

Figure 2 is an enlarged lines 11-11 of Figure l;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the lines III-III of Figure 1; I I V Figure 4 is a plan view of the blank used in fabricatsectional view taken along the ing the corner protector of our invention;

Figure 5 is an enlarged side elevational view showing the corner protector in a partially assembled form.

As shown on the drawings:

Referring to Figure 1, reference numeral 10 indicates generally a pack of glass sheets such as window glass, the corners of which are collectively protected by corner protectors ll embodying the present invention. The corner protectors are preferably formed of corrugated board or other suitable cushioning material.

' The construction of each assembled corner protector is more particularly shown in Figures 2 and 3. The two side walls of each protector ll are triangular in shape and multi-layered, having, respectively, outer layers 16 and. 32, intermediate layers 30 and 14 and inner layers 17 and 33. The intermediate layers 30 and 1.4 are formed from paired flaps integral with a rectangular outer edge wall 12, and the outer layers 16 and 32, and the inner layers 17 and 33 are formed from paired flaps integral with and folded from opposite edges of a rectangular outer edge wall 13, which in the assembled cornerprotector lies at right angles to said edge wall 12. Inner edge walls 18 and 19 extend from said inner layers 17 and 33 at right angles thereto, respectively, in spaced parallel relationship to said outer edge walls 12 and lfi to lie under the edges 33a and 17a of the inner side walls 33 and 17, respectively, and thus be locked in place, Rigidifying strips 20 and 20a, which may suitably be made of wood, are inserted in the spaces so formed between outer and inner edge walls 13 and 19, and 12 and 18, respectively.

In Figure 4, showing the one-piece blank from which each of said corner protectors 1 1 is formed, the referjence numerals 12 and 13 indicate the two rectangular panels forming the outer edge walls just described, which are joined together endwise by a line of fold 24. To each side of the edge wall panel 12 is integrally attached one of a pair of right-triangular flaps 30 and 14, and to each side of the edge wall 13 is integrally attached one of a pair of triangularly-shaped flaps 16 and 32. The flaps 30 and 16 are joined to the edge wall panels 12 and 13, respectively, by a continuous line of told 21 and are separated from each other by a line of severance 28. The flaps 14 and 32 are joined to the edge Wall panels 12 and 13, respectively, by a continuous line of fold 34, and are separated from each other by a line of severance 39.

Integrally attached to the triangular-shaped flaps 16 and 32 by the respective paired lines of fold 23, 23 and 36, 36, are triangular flaps 17 and 33, respectively. The width of the strips 29 and. 37 between the respective paired lines of fold is preferably slightly greater than the thickness of the blank material to facilitate foldin'gove'r an edge thereofto provide the folded edges 29:: and 37: (Figs. 2 and 3). The triangular fiaps17and 33integrally attached by the respective lines of told 25 and 26 to the outer rectangular .fiaps 18 and 19, respectively, that form the inner edge walls. lnitheact of assembly, tin rectangular flap 18 is positioned so that it lies parallel to and spaced from the outer rectangular edge wall 12 while the rectangular flap 19 is positioned so that it lies parallel to and spaced inwardly from the outer rectan' gular edge wall 13. t x x lar panels 12 and 13 form the outeredge walls in the assembled corner protector, while flaps 30 and 14 become the intermediate side walls; flaps 16 and 32 become the outer side walls; flaps 17 and 33 become the inner side walls; and flaps1l9 and 18 become the inner To aid in assembling the corner protector from the blanks line of fold 27 is provided, shown approximately parallel .tothe paired lines of told 36. 36 and located in the walls; and flaps 19 and 18 become the inner fioidwinflaaid side wall 33. t

The free edge of the panel 13 and the adjacent edges the flaps 16 and 32 are offset inwardly, as at 40, from the edge 17a and the line of fold 26, sothat when asaembled the edge 40 will, lie flush with an adjacent edge 41 of the flap 19. p

To assemble the corner protector from the blank, the two outside edge walls 12 and 13 are folded at right angles to each other at the line of fold 24. The interediate aide walls30 and 14 are folded inwardly'at the lines of told 21 and so that they lie at right angles outer .edge wall 12, with their edges abutting'the 7 the wall 13. Outer side wall 16 is then folded inwardly I edge wall panels 18 and 19 in place, and does not require the of nails "df othefseparafe 'fastenitig means assembling. The constituentEblanks can be prefabricated at preferred localities remote from the assembly point, thereby saving shipping costs, and the assembled protector can be disassembled easily.

These features and othersindicate that the corner protector of the present invention has numerous advantages over the more conventional corner protectors used to transport materials in sheet form which have a tendency to sustain damage tocorners in transit-or due to their brittle or frangible character.

While specifically described in connection with sheets of glass or other brittle material, the corner protectors of our invention can alsobe used with sheets of other materials such as enameled or painted metal sheets. Where the stacked sheets are stored flat, with one bundle or package of corner protected sheets stored on top of the other, the relatively rigid yet somewhat resilient strips 20 and 20a keep the piles from collapsingand bear thc compression load of the superimposed bundles. This was not achieved with previously known constructions of corj ner protectors.

It will, of course, be understood that each pack of sheets, after the corner protectors have been positioned in place as shown in Figure 1, may have an outer wrapping, or be placed in cartons, or the'corner protectors may be held against displacement by means of pressure l. A corner protector having a pair nected by. a right angular bend forming a corner therefold 27, to cause the flap 33 to lie alongside and against the inner surface of the intermediate side wall 14. The inner rectangular panel 19 is at the same time thereby positioned in a plane parallel to but spaced from the outer edge wall 13, with its edge underlying the edge 17a to be locked in place thereby. As the flap 33 is folded inwardly, in the manner just stated, to provide the inner side wall, its one edge 33a is caused to overlie the adjacentfreeedgeofthe inner edge wall 18tolockthe same 1 t The strips-20 and 200 are either positioned inplaee prior to these last folding operationsor are inaerted in the spaces alotted them between the outer and inner edge walls 13 and 19, and 12 and 18, respectively, aashowninFigureS, The corner protector illustrated in the drawings has substantial advantages over the more common protectors used for shipping and storing products such as window glass. The cushioning qualities of this protector are conaiderably better than achieved with protectors heretofore previously employed since the multiple layers of material coupled with rigidifying strips in the edgewalls make the protector resistant to all kinds of damaging shocks or blows to corners. The structure is less expensive than manyformer types of corner protectors while at the same time it is simple to make and to' assemble, and has a selfrelaining feature not possessed by former corner protectorl, due to the tendency of the inner sidewalls 17 and 33 to move inwardly against the surfaces of the sheets "with whichtheyareplaced incontact.

Thecorner protector of this invention lends itself readily to simple assembly procedures, is self-locking when between, oneyof said edge walls having a first set of integral triangularly shaped, flaps extending along opposite side edges of said edge wall to form intermediate side walls, the other of said edge walls having a second set of triangularly shaped flaps forming outer side walls, and integral tn'angularly shaped extensions of said second set of flaps folded inwardly over said intermediate side walls to form inner side walls lyinginwardly of, parallel to and coextensive-with said intermediate side walls, one of said extensions having a rectangular portion folded from an edge thereof to lie parallel to and spacedfrom one of said edge walls and the other of said extensions havinga rectangular'portion folded from an edge thereof to lie parallel to and spaced from the other of said edge walls, both of said rectangular portions being of a width sufficient to extend underthe corresponding inside edges of said innerside walls when the corner protector is fully assembled and rigidifying strips having some resiliency positioned in the spaces provided between said outer and inner edge walls.

2 A corner protector having a pair of edge walls connected bya right angular bend forming a corner therebetween, one of said edge walls having a first setof integral triangularly shaped flaps extending along opposite side edges of said edge wall to form intermediate side walls, the other of said edge walls having a second set of triangularly shaped flaps forming outer sidewalls, and integral triangularly shaped extensions of said second'set of flaps folded inwardly over said intermediate side walls to form inner side walls lying inwardly of, parallel to and coextensive with said intermediate side walls, oneof said extensions having a rectangular portionfolded from anedgel thereof to lie parallel toand spaced from one of-said edge walls and theotherof said extensions having a rectangular portion folded from assembled to, holdthe, strips 20 and 20a and the inner an edge thereof to lie parallel to and spaced from the other of said edge walls, both of said rectangular portions being of a width suflicient to extend under the corresponding inside edges of said inner side walls when the corner protector is fully assembled.

3. A blank for a corner protector of corrugated paper board and like material comprising a pair of rectangular panels extending end-Wise through the mid-portion of said blank and separated from each other at their adjoining ends by a line of fold, a first pair of right-triangular flaps integrally attached respectively along one leg of the triangle by a line of fold to opposite sides of one of said rectangular panels, each said right triangular fiap having a free leg edge toward the second of said rectangular panels; a second pair of triangularlyshaped flaps each integrally attached respectively by a line of fold to opposite sides of the second of said rectangular panels, each such second triangularly shaped flap being separated from the adjacent corresponding first right-triangular flap by a line of severance; pairs of triangularly-shaped extensions each integrally attached by paired lines of fold to the hypotenuse of one of the second pair of triangularly-shaped flaps; and a pair of rectangular flaps hinged by lines of fold to respective sides of said triangularly-shaped extensions.

4. A blank for a corner protector of corrugated paper board and like material comprising a pair of rectangular panels extending end-wise through the mid-portion of said blank and separated from each other at their adjoining ends by a line of fold, a first pair of right-triangular flaps integrally attached respectively along one leg of the triangle by a line of fold to opposite sides of one of said rectangular panels, each said right-triangular flap having a free leg edge toward the second of said rectangular panels; a second pair of triangularlyshaped fiaps integrally attached respectively by a line of fold to opposite sides of the second of said rectangular panels, each such second triangularly shaped flap being separated from the adjacent corresponding first right-triangular flap by a line of severance; pairs of triangularly-shaped extensions each integrally attached by paired lines of fold to the hypotenuse of one of the second pair of triangularly-shaped flaps; and a pair of rectangular flaps hinged by lines of fold to respective sides of said triangularly-shaped extensions, the construction and arrangement of said blank and component panels, flaps and extensions being such that when said blank is folded to set the same up into a corner protector free edges of said rectangular flaps extend under free edges of said triangularly shaped flaps to be locked in place thereon in assembly protector.

5. A unitary blank divided by suitable lines of fold and severance into: a pair of elongated rectangular panels positioned at the mid-portion of said blank and joined end-wise to each other by a line of fold; a first pair of right triangular flaps attached to the respective longer 6 sides of one of said rectangular panels; a second pair of right triangularly-shaped flaps foldably attached to the respective longer sides of the other of said rectangular panels and separated from said first pair of flaps by a line of severance; each of said second pair of flaps having foldably attached along its hypotenuse by paired lines of fold one of a pair of right triangular extensions; each of such extensions having foldably attached thereto along one edge thereof a rectangular flap; the said blank being foldable into a corner protector having two sets of paired, spaced inner and outer edge walls lying at right angles to each other, and paired triangularly shaped side walls each of three layers joining edges of said edge walls and extending between the outer ends of said edge walls, with the inner of said pairs of edge walls having a free edge extending behind a free edge of an inner layer of said side walls to be retained in place thereby.

6. A corner pad comprising two spaced triangular structures formed of paperboard, each triangular structure including a pair of first and second hingedly connected panels of paperboard arranged in parallel spaced relation, and a third layer of paperboard interposed between the two triangular panels of each of said structures, an edge wall hingedly connected to said third panels and connecting the same, a second edge wall connected to an edge of one of said hingedly connected panels of each of said triangular structures and connecting the same, and said edge walls being hingedly connected together at their ends.

7. A corner pad comprising two spaced triangular structures formed of paperboard, each triangular structure including first and second hingedly connected generally triangular panels of paperboard arranged in parallel spaced relation and a third panel of paperboard interposed between the first and second panels of each of said structures, an edge wall hingedly connected to said third panel of each of said structures and connecting the same, a second edge wall connected to an edge of the first panel of each of said structures and connecting the same, said edge walls being hingedly connected together at their ends, and said second panel of each of said structures having a flange thereon folded into parallel relation to one of said edge walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,817,286 Beaman Aug. 4, 1931 1,998,515 Miller Apr. 23, 1935 2,196,157 White Apr. 2, 1940 2,292,802 Steck et a1. Aug. 11, 1942 2,476,197 Kincaid July 12, 1949 2,509,468 Anderson May 30, 1950 2,514,833 Bergeron July 11, 1950 2,663,417 Kincaid Dec. 22, 1953 

